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Sen. Cory Booker: Use War on Drugs Resources to Expand War on GunsBe cautious, advocates for liberty who are cheering the apparent winding down of the United States government’s war on marijuana and that war’s replacement with a patchwork quilt of revised state and local laws more tolerant of marijuana growth, distribution, and use. This trend is good news, and it carries hope for similar results regarding the broader war on drugs. The bad news is that some politicians, including Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ), want to move drug war resources into new government assaults on liberty.

Will Reading of George Washington’s Farewell Address Influence Senate Warmongers?Per longstanding United States Senate tradition, on Monday afternoon a senator — this year Sen. John Hoeven (R-ND) — will read President George Washington’s farewell address on the Senate floor. The Senate website declares that no Senate tradition “has been more steadfastly maintained,” noting the first reading of the speech on the Senate floor occurred in 1862 and that “[e]very year since 1896, the Senate has observed Washington's Birthday by selecting one of its members, alternating parties, to read the 7,641-word statement in legislative session.”

Ron Paul Warns of Mandatory E-Verify DangersRon Paul, who served in the United States House of Representatives as a Republican from Texas, submitted comments on Wednesday to the Immigration and Border Security Subcommittee of the House Judiciary Committee warning of many dangers that may arise from making E-Verify a mandatory component of hiring under US law. Mandatory E-Verify is one of the “tough on illegal immigration” proposals being considered in Congress.

Rep. Walter Jones: US Should End Afghanistan War For RealRep. Walter Jones (R-NC) delivered a powerful speech Wednesday on the floor of the United States House of Representatives advocating ending the US government’s ongoing war in Afghanistan. In the speech Jones challenges President Barack Obama’s claim that the Afghanistan War has ended. Jones supports the challenge by noting that thousands of US troops remain in Afghanistan, US taxpayers’ dollars continue to be spent in Afghanistan for military intervention, and the US and Afghanistan governments have recently entered into a bilateral security agreement purposed to keep US troops in Afghanistan.

House Passes Resolution Using Paris Killings to Justify Global War on TerrorA handful of bipartisan members of the US House of Representatives, in a short Tuesday afternoon session preceding the State of the Union speech, passed by voice vote a resolution (H.Res. 37) using the killings in Paris on January 7-9 to justify war. In particular, the resolution reaffirms the US government’s commitment to fighting the Global War on Terror, praises France for its foreign interventions in the Middle East and Africa, and calls on the governments of all nations “to join a global effort to combat violent extremist ideologies and terrorist groups.”

House Majority Leader: Charlie Hebdo Killings Justify US Intervention WorldwideIf the statement issued Wednesday by US House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) is an indication of how the US House and Senate — both now under Republican leadership — will respond legislatively to the killings in Paris last week, expect expanded authorization and funding for US military action and other intervention the world over.

US House to Vote on Imposing National ID Cards Worldwide ‘For the Children’The US House of Representatives is scheduled to vote this week on HR 3398, legislation stating that it is the policy of the United States government to encourage other nations to require all citizens to have national identity cards. HR 3398 also directs the US government to work with multinational organizations and private entities on imposing registration, identification, and documentation laws on people around the world. As is often the case with legislation intended to increase government power and expand foreign intervention, HR 3398 presents as its justification helping the children—girls in particular this time.

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) is leading the counter-attack against the Administration's opening door to a peaceful agreement with Iran. His strategy to scuttle any permanent rapprochement with Iran on behalf of his neocon and Israel/Saudi lobby benefactors is transparent: treat the initial six-month confidence-building measure -- a voluntary cessation of uranium enrichment above five percent in exchange for limited sanctions relief -- as if it were a Chapter VII UN Security Council Resolution.

Cantor's intent is to treat the temporary voluntary cessation of Iran's right to peaceful enrichment as if it were a permanent, legal resolution by the international community backed by the threat of force. After establishing this fallacy as fact -- the media has been helpful to this purpose -- he intends to proceed with additional confidence-undermining sanctions legislation in the House in attempt to goad the Iranians into backing away from negotiations and returning to their (legal) levels of enrichment (and restarting centrifuges along with work on the heavy water reactor at Arak).

He will at that point likely introduce legislation authorizing force in response to Iran returning to the status quo ante (i.e. enrichment that is fully legal according to the NPT) in the face of US bad faith and provocations.

Iran remains perhaps the most significant national security threat facing the United States and its closest allies. Its determined pursuit of a nuclear weapons capability and support for terrorism and instability must be stopped. It is my hope that the House, in a bipartisan manner, can express our concerns about Iran's aggression and state our position on what a comprehensive settlement of the nuclear issue should look like.

According to The Hill, Cantor is seeking a new resolution on Iran which would "call for new sanctions if Iran reneges on its commitments and demand that Iran not be allowed to enrich uranium as part of a final deal."

This would of course produce a diplomatic dead letter, sending Iranian negotiators back to Tehran and leaving Iran's moderate leadership to face the wrath of hardliners who warned that the Americans could not be trusted to act in good faith.

Oh, it would also send Cantor's AIPAC sponsors into joyous paroxysms after a rather glum few months on the sidelines. The games are about to begin.